U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,194 issued Aug. 8, 1995 and entitled "Piezoelectric Actuators" discloses a number of piezoelectric actuators each of which exhibits considerable physical movement by forming a plurality of discrete oppositely poled regions in a piezoelectric film and by connecting the regions into a sequence such that alternate regions produce incremental movements which are additive to one another because of the unique way in which the regions are connected, and the pattern of electrodes formed on opposite sides of the film for impressing the voltage patterns for operation.
Although the resulting products are inexpensive and satisfy significant industrial requirements, a high volume method for fabrication would achieve not only additional cost reductions, but also would result in the high levels of production necessary for satisfying the anticipated demand.